Presenting Information in a Human Voice

Tim Bray, one of the co-creators of XML, spoke Monday alongside Seybold. He discussed what he sees as other defining changes in the industry, such as improved graphical user interfaces, and stated in passing that as far as tagging data goes, "nobody is doing it" in the publishing business.

In addition to touting XML, Bray, now chief technology officer at Antarctica Systems, promoted Weblogs as a promising tool for publishers. Weblogs are Web sites that feature chronological entries by an author, or "blogger" (for Web logger), and typically reflect his or her personal view.

Used as a marketing tool, a Weblog can provide an inventive way to reach customers and partners with engaging content, he said. Ray Ozzie, inventor of Lotus Notes, and Phillip Windley, Chief Information Officer for the State of Utah, were among the notable bloggers Bray cited.

"You might want to give serious consideration to humanly publicizing your organization," Bray said. "Presenting information in a human voice is the best way to get people to read what you publish."

This is in stark contrast to the recent article in Information Week by Herbert W. Lovelace (a psedonym) called "Beware the Blog" which painted a very suspicious picture of blogs. Obviously, I disagree with "Lovelace" on a number of counts. Because of blogs, I know more about my organization and I hope my organization knows more about me and my thoughts and motives. I don't see how that can be bad.